Paddy Pimblett down to fight Jared Gordon at upcoming UFC card planned for London

Paddy Pimblett is still awaiting word from the UFC on his next opponent, although he’s almost certain that he knows the date he’ll return to action.

The fast rising star out of England is currently targeting the upcoming UFC event on March 19 that’s being planned for London as the date and location for his second fight with the promotion. With that news he also shot down rumors that he was going to face Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 272 in March after he says former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen first mentioned that possibility on his podcast.

“I think that was just Chael having a little go for some clickbait,” Pimblett said on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast when addressing the rumor. “It starts with Chael. Chael done a video [mentioning the fight].

“There’s no truth to it. Do you really think the UFC is going to put me on a card the fifth of March in Vegas when they’re doing London on the 19th? It doesn’t make sense. I would still like to fight in London in front of my home crowd.”

Pimblett burst on the scene last year after making quite a splash in his UFC debut where he finished Luigi Vendramini with a first-round knockout in September.

Since that time, the 27-year-old former Cage Warriors contender has become one of the most talked about fighters in the sport and now he’s anxiously awaiting the chance to impress fans even more with his second outing in the octagon.

According to Pimblett, the UFC hasn’t even presented him with a list of potential opponents, although there is one name out there that is appealing to him.

“The UFC hasn’t come at me with any opponents,” Pimblett said. “After he mentioned me, I thought me and Jared Gordon might get matched together. But as I say, I’ve got no idea, we’ll see what happens.

“I haven’t even had potential opponents sent over to me yet. I thought I’d have one by now.”

A nine-fight fighter in the UFC, Gordon is currently enjoying his best run since joining the roster while picking up a trio of wins in his last three appearances. Most recently, Gordon picked up a hard-fought split decision win over another top prospect in Joe Solecki as he looks to continue his winning ways in the New Year.

Pimblett likes the idea of testing himself against someone like Gordon, especially when adding in a little bit of a rivalry based on a past win currently decorating his resume.

“Because he mentioned me in his post-fight interview and he beat my former teammate, I would like to fight Jared Gordon,” Pimblett said. “He beat [Chris Fishgold] so obviously I would like to beat him and he’s on a three fight win streak. His last loss was to [Charles] Oliveira.”

Whether he ends up fighting Gordon or somebody else, Pimblett expects to have a monumental year in 2022 as he looks to build off his debut win.

“It was always coming,” Pimblett said. “It’s always been my destiny and it’s going to continue.”